From its central London Studios, from Monday to Friday Thames provides itv programmes for 14 million people living in and around the capital. For them, for ITV viewers throughout Britain, and for television stations world wide, Thames produces well over a thousand programmes a year. The company’s aim is to educate, inform and entertain in depth and on the widest possible scale.

Most of the drama, light entertainment and children’s productions within this wide-ranging output are made in the riverside studios at Teddington, in Middlesex, ten miles from Thames Television House. There are three studios at Teddington, the largest being 7500 sq.ft, and they are among the world’s most advanced TV studios, being the first to incorporate many of the features now being introduced into new ITV studios. All studios are fully operational in colour, and have complete support facilities, including scene building and rehearsal rooms.

Current affairs and documentary programmes are produced mainly at TTH, with its presentation and audience studios and its extensive telecine, vtr and editing facilities. Today, London’s daily live magazine programme, is also produced at and transmitted from TTH.

Thames’ outside broadcast units are based at Hanworth, near Teddington. The equipment includes one four-colour camera unit, two two-colour camera plus VTR units and a single colour camera unit, three microwave link units and other auxiliaries, such as hydraulic towers.

The programme output of these three centres has made Thames a leading contributor to the national Top Twenty programme ‘league table’; and the company has consistently won the major share of London viewing each week. Overseas sales of programmes are increasing, and with these the Thames symbol on a TV programme is becoming famous internationally. Here is a list of some of the programmes Thames produces:

DRAMA: Armchair Theatre; Callan; The Mind of Mr J G Reeder; Public Eye; Special Branch; Man at the Top; Shadows of Fear; The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes; Six Days of Justice.

CHILDREN’S: Magpie; Ace of Wands; The Sooty Show; Pinky and Perky; Smith; Zing along; Once Upon a Time; Anita in Jumbleland; Sexton Blake; Elephant’s Eggs in a Rhubarb Tree; Full House; Tottering Towers.

SCHOOLS: Seeing and Doing; Finding Out; The World Around Us; Drama; Song and Story; Le Mystere de Valbec (French); Fusion; Evidence.

ADULT EDUCATION: Treasures of the British Museum; Living Architects; Living Writers; Looking At… (Antiques); The Garden Indoors; Children to Children; Yoga for Health; National Trust.

RELIGION: Last Programme (throughout the week); Specials for Christmas and Easter.

Thames Television’s Teddington Studios.

Visits to Studios

A limited number of tickets is available for audiences at certain shows. Applications, enclosing stamped addressed envelopes, should be made to the Ticket Office at Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB. The minimum age is 16, except for some programmes specially for children.

Enquiries about artists and programmes should be addressed to Viewers’ Correspondence, Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB.

Submission of Scripts

While Thames will always welcome the submission of proposals for plays and series, drama plans are subject to change over the year. Writers are advised in the first place to contact the Story Supervisor at Teddington Studios.

Sales and Marketing

Thames operates a full marketing and merchandising service and offers special rates for local advertisers, new products, holiday and travel advertisers etc. Research services include Television consumer audit, Thames area retail audit, product and campaign testing and attitude research. An auxiliary sales force of men or girls is available for selling-in, promotions and similar merchandising work, and Thames will also co-operate fully on promotional mailings, sales conferences and all other support activities. Thames Ansafone, the first and still the largest direct-response-by-phone system, is available at special rates to mail order, recruitment and all other direct response advertisers. Details are available in ‘The Uncommon Market’ or from the Sales Controller.

New Technology

Thames has undertaken development of process control techniques in the field of on-line signal switching and machine control. As an extension of this, it is seeking to apply the same control hardware to production resource allocation.

A further aspect of digital control technology being used is that of synchronisation between helical scan video recorders and audio recorders. This is being used for sound dubbing operations, with particular reference to the production of dialogue tracks separate from music and effects, the purpose being to provide foreign language dialogue versions of major productions.